December brings a flurry of activity, and some snow flurries, too. There will be crafting, cookies, Christmas music pretty much all day every day… and lots of chocolate. I find it really hard to predict when I will have time to cook when I’m this busy. I like to have a lot of meals planned with ingredients in the house, so I can adjust what I make based on the time I have that day. There are some really tasty-looking pantry recipes I can make any old time.
The offbeat holidays we are using as an excuse to celebrate something are: Giving Tuesday (2nd), Cookie Day (4th), International Ninja Day (5th), Pretend To Be a Time Traveler Day (8th), Ugly Christmas Sweater Day (12th), Cat Herders Day (15th), Chocolate-covered Anything Day (16th), Underdog Day (19th), Winter Solstice (21st), Festivus (23rd) and Whiners Day (26th).
Ideas and resources for menu planning in December, many seasonal winter and real food recipes. Very simple ingredients, from scratch. As always, these are all frugal recipes intended for a tight budget. Real food/from scratch/traditional diet/nutrient dense/whole food/blah blah blah. My monthly meal plans use an alternative meal planning method, recipes organized into tiers based on how perishable the ingredients are, not sorted into particular days.
*Attention real food purists/whole foodies – the recipes I link/pin are all from scratch, but some of them you may have to make substitutions or modifications. For example, I link recipes that have sugar, but you can substitute whatever your favorite sweetener is.
*Don’t forget to read about how I meal plan at Frugal, Flexible Monthly Menu Planning!*
In this post: Seasonal Produce ~ Recipes ~ Download PDF ~ Pinterest Boards ~ Other Plans
Seasonal produce for December includes:
Vegetables
Beets
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Fennel
Kale
Leeks
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Onions
Potatoes
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Winter Squash
Fruits
Apples
Cranberries
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Lemons
Oranges
Pears
Pomegranates
Tangerines
Epicurious Seasonal produce maps by state
CUESA Seasonal vegetables by month
Recipes from the December Meal Plan (organized by how perishable ingredients are)
Tier 1/Most Perishable (ie broccoli, kale, spinach, shrooms)
Apple, Kale & Cheddar Melt with Red Onion-Rosemary Marmalade from Poor Girl Eats Well
Bread Soup (Panade) with Onions, Chard, and Mushrooms from Simply Recipes
Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Pizza from Budget Bytes
Chunky Italian Vegetable Stew from Real Simple
Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipe from Simply Recipes
Potato, Red Onion, and Kale Pizza from Woman’s Day
Turkey, Apple and Broccoli Breakfast Hash from The Healthy Foodie
Tier 2/Less Perishable (ie cabbage, cauliflower, pepper, scallion)
Chicken and Black Bean-Stuffed Burritos from Cooking Light
Chicken Cheesesteak Sandwiches from Simply From Scratch
Chicken Yakitori Rice Bowl from Cooking Light
Easy Weeknight Lo Mein from Shrinking Kitchen
Roasted Cauliflower Pizza from Woman’s Day
Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup from Back to the Book Nutrition
Spicy {Slow Cooker} Sweet Potato and Chickem Stew from Shrinking Kitchen
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas from Cooking Light
Tier 3/Pantry or Make It Whenever (ie carrot, celery, leek, onion)
Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew from Cooking Light
Classic Chicken Tetrazzini from Southern Living
Ginger Chicken Soup With Vegetables from Real Simple
Ginger, White Bean & Chicken Soup from Raia’s Recipes
Leek & Cannellini Bean Soup with Cous Cous from Poor Girl Eats Well
Moroccan Fruity Chicken Tagine from Simply Fresh Dinners
Spicy Turkey Soup with Yogurt, Chickpeas, and Mint Recipe from Simply Recipes
Turkey Stew with Root Vegetables Recipe from Simply Recipes
Tuscan White Bean Soup {Crock-Pot} from Artful Homemaking
Download PDF. This has the links in the order listed above. Keep in mind I don’t limit myself to particular days, so this is not in order by date. Save it to your desktop and you will always have a quick reference when you’re hunting dinner, you probably have the ingredients for Tier 3 recipes at this very moment!
Other December Real Food/Whole Food Meal Plans
Bi-Weekly Whole Food Meal Plan for December 7–20 from Nourishing Home on the Better Mom
December Meal Plan from Letters from Sunnybrook
Grain-Free Weekly Meal Plan from Real Food Outlaws
Real Food Meal Plan: December 6, 2014 from Real Food Whole Life
Real Food Meal Plan Week 43 from Real Food Real Deals
Weekly Meal Plan: December 7 – 13th from The Vintage Mom
Whole Foods December 2014 Menu from Once a Month Meals
December Meal Plan Pinterest Boards:
Meal Plan December (just look at all that tastiness!)
Recipes to Try Winter
In this post: Seasonal Produce ~ Recipes ~ Download PDF ~ Pinterest Boards ~ Other Plans
*Also see our
We hope you enjoyed our December Real Food Monthly Menu Plan post for seasonal eating
Shared with Busy Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Fat Tuesday, Mostly Homemade Mondays, Natural Family Friday, Pennywise Platter Thursdays, Real Food Wednesday, and Treasure Box Tuesday.
Photo credits: Mason jars photo from Susy Morris on Flickr
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How often do you make an effort to eat seasonally?